Irn Bru maker AG Barr to invest £5m at plant after end to ‘glass cheques’

Neil McGrory

Irn-Bru makers AG Barr is to invest £5m on a new type of production line – which will bring an end to its famous ‘glass cheques’.

The deposit on its 750ml glass bottle is the source of many childhood memories, but the installation of new machinery at the Westfield plant marks the end of an era as returned bottles will no longer be accepted.

Over the years the number of bottles being returned has declined sharply, due to increasing numbers of people recycling at home.

In the early 1990s Barr saw 90 per cent of its bottles returned, but this has dropped by half.